


Loyalty

by Vialyn



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Death, Gen, Hurt/Not A Lot Of Comfort, I'm still crying, Season 7 Spoilers, Spoilers: s7ep12, oh man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:08:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24014965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vialyn/pseuds/Vialyn
Summary: Victory is never without its deaths.
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 5
Kudos: 61





	Loyalty

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for season 7, episode 12 of Clone Wars.

They went back. 

Ahsoka was the one that urged it, for them to land on that moon just minutes after hearing the thundering rattle the planet gave as the ship crashed into the surface. Rex couldn’t find himself saying no, to argue that they had to leave before someone found them.

But he wanted to see them. Just one last time.

When they landed, they could do nothing but stand there for a few moments, staring at the broken and smoking ship that sped them across the stars for the last three years. It was the one place that Rex and Ahsoka could call home, even if it was just for a second of peace during the war. It was the one place that all their vode could call home.

Yet now it seems to be marked as their tomb.

The irony was not lost on Rex, not as they finally started pulling bodies out of the ship. The first was a shiny, jarring white armor hard to look at as the sun reflected off of them. They had no paint, no marks to tell Rex who they were. They were just another clone, another number on a long list whose life was lost in this pointless war. 

It got harder as the hours past. They found more shines, more clones who they would never have the honor of knowing their chosen names or quirks that set them apart. Then they found the ones that they could name. Abel, Skipper, Pathwork, Blink, Jax, Sterling, 77, Maps, Kal, all recognizable by the marks and paint that they bore with pride. The list went on and on, each one now marking his list of names to say during his growing remembrance. He suspected now that it would take hours to recite, to whisper the names that were buried here and now forgotten to everyone but him and Ahsoka.

The clones always feared one thing more than death; for their individuality to be taken away from them and to be forgotten. And yet, here Rex and Ahsoka are, burying them just after they become mindless droids on a moon with no name. 

It was with the sun was still high in the sky when they finally found the last passenger, their last brother. They found him lying there, on his back with his helmet just a few feet away from him, revealing a tattooed face that now was basking in the sun peaking just through the holes of the cruiser. The beams of light looked to be almost surrounding him, a halo to bask him in the radiance of the light. Golden eyes were hidden behind closed lids, ones they had no doubt would be glowing in the bright rays, and there was no frown marring his face. Yet he had something that both Ahsoka and Rex could recall from memory and both had the honor of being familiar with. 

Jesse was laying there, his signature smile adorning his quirked lips. 

Rex could do nothing but stand there, to look at the once always moving body now unnaturally still. He looked peaceful almost like he was thinking about something fond before he could think no more. 

Rex could only guess what that was. But if he knew Jesse, the man that would take a shot for anyone, selflessness that rivaled even that of Kix… 

He would have to guess that he was glad that he failed in his order, that he died before he could make that final shot.

It felt like hours before Rex made the move to pick him up. He was slow in his movements, gentle as if he touched him, he would break into a thousand little pieces. He slowly made his way to slide his arms under Jesse’s legs and his hand to cradle his head, careful not to jar that smile off his face. With tender care did Rex finally find himself making his way to stand on his shaking legs. It was almost unnatural how light Jesse felt, how limp he was in Rex’s arms. He could have dropped to his knees then, the grief now striking him, whipping him as the events of today finally revealed itself in the stillness of Jesse’s body.

Yet Ahsoka was there, holding Jesse helmet with a grip that caused her knuckles to turn white and looking at him with unmasked grief.

It did not take anything else for him to start moving to the head of the ship. He laid Jesse in that shallow grave and almost didn’t let him go before he knew that no matter how long he held him, he would not suddenly take another breath. With gentle and shaking hands, he positioned Jesse with arms crossed over his chest, feet closed, eyes still shut, and smile still resting on his lips. He looked to be resting peacefully, a look he didn’t see on Jesse very often, and almost never when Kix finally went missing. It was almost too much to leave him there, to leave him and his brothers on a moon he will never have the name for. Yet, it was with a hand on Jesse’s chest, right over where that ever pounding and energetic heart used to beat its signature rhythm, did he finally speak his final words.

“Taabir pirusti, vod. Ni kelir haa'taylir gar nusujii.” 

Ahsoka and Rex both stood there now, helmets now perched on crude graves with visors lacking the eyes that used to stare behind them. It was as he marked every grave with his eyes did Rex finally let the building tears flow, silent, hot, and unrelating, settled with the fact that his brothers that he fought and bled with now lie still under them. 

He felt a hand grab for his and he opened his palm to allow a small, shaking hand to twine their fingers together. Her grip was tight, pressure creaking the worn plates still adorning his knuckles. He did not have to turn to see the same tears now streaming down Ahsoka’s face and he’s not sure he could handle it if he did. So he just squeezed back, the pressure less but still there as a reminder that Ahsoka did not stand alone.

Ahsoka was told once that loyalty meant everything to the clones.

Rex never did tell her what her loyalty meant to the 501st. To him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Vode - brothers, sisters, silbings  
> Taabir pirusti, vod. Ni kelir haa'taylir gar nusujii. - March well, brother. I will see you soon.
> 
> Remember, the Force will be with you... Always.


End file.
